Egypt’s state buyer to sell wheat to struggling commercial bread sector -statement

Egypt’s supply ministry has said that it would allow mills producing 72% extraction wheat flour to buy wheat from the state grains buyer at a price of EGP 8700 ($442.52) per tonne, the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Wheat flour extraction of 72% is used to make unsubsidized bread, pasta and other goods in Egypt.

The ministry will also sell flour to pasta factories operating within the state buyer’s framework at EGP 10,000 per tonne. Both decisions will be implemented as of Oct. 15 and will be applicable for a month, the ministry added.

The move follows complaints from private sector importers and mills as they struggle to pay for around 700,000 tonnes of wheat stuck at ports amid a dollar shortage, traders and Egypt’s chamber of cereals said last week.

One company had requested to purchase from the strategic reserves of the state buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC).

GASC is responsible for buying wheat for Egypt’s food subsidy program, which provides subsidized bread for more than 70 million of the 104 million population.

Egypt, typically the world’s top wheat importer, has seen its wheat purchases disrupted following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both top wheat exporters. The state buyer has since diversified its purchases and boosted its reserves to more than six months.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Sarah El Safty and Moamen Saeid Attalah; Editing by Chris Reese and Grant McCool)